If Trump ignites a trade war, British manufacturing will be caught in the crossfire

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Sales of Jaguar's new all-electric I-Pace SUV are supposed to start later this year

As the unseemly spat between Donald Trump and Jean-Claude Junker, who have spent the past week threatening each other with increased import taxes on goods that cross the Atlantic, edges closer to all-out trade war, it's clear that the British car manufacturers will be among those caught in the crossfire.

Because while the European Union as a whole is the UK automotive industry's largest trading partner, the United States of America represents a significant client. In 2017 the US was the largest individual customer for cars produced in Britain, taking 15.7 per cent of all the cars we made here. The EU took 53.9 per cent in the same period.